US drug firm Pfizer has admitted that its proposed £63bn takeover of UK rival AstraZeneca would lead to job cuts and a big reduction in the combined companies' research and development spending. Pfizer's chief executive, Ian Read, who was subjected to a sustained questioning by MPs on Tuesday, admitted that despite his repeated assurances that the takeover would be "win-win" for the UK "there will be some job cuts". "I'm not sitting here saying that we can become more efficient without some reduction in jobs," he told MPs on the business select committee. "We'll be more efficient by some reduction in jobs.